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Fat Head:You’ve been fed a load of bologna

I’ve learned from Tom Naughton that his new movie is titled Fat Head and carries the tagline You’ve been fed a load of bologna. Tom has also graciously agreed to answer all your questions about the movie so fire away. Submit any questions you might have as comments, and Tom will answer them in a blog post within a few days.

I’m putting up the rest of the clips from the movie on today’s post.

The sequence of these clips as they will appear in the movie is as follows:

Blaming Fast Food

Spurlockian Bolagna

The Guy from CSPI

Big Fat Lies

McGovern Report

I’m posting these in kind of reverse order. I put up the last two on yesterday’s post.

Here are clips 1 through 3:

And here is the clip that contains one of the most perceptive lines in all of moviedom. It’s so typical of do-gooders such as the jerks at CSPI, and it runs rampant in our own government. It’s the idea that anyone producing and/or selling a product is inherently evil, and that we, the consuming public, are stupid, and, consequently, are desperately in need of do-gooders and governmental regulatory bodies to protect us from our own brainlessness. Because, after all, we can’t possibly think for ourselves. Naughton captures this mindset perfectly in two lines from the Guy from CSPI. Watch for them. Beautiful.

Enjoy.

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40 thoughts on “Fat Head:You’ve been fed a load of bologna”

These are excellent clips – I’m impressed.
I hope your friend has a plan to get the film as much notice as “Supersize Me” got.
Everyone has been conditioned to scorn “dangerous fast food” so the incentive to counter the message just isn’t there.
This is an uphill battle for sure.

An uphill battle at the very least. But I suspect that Tom is up to the task.

I jotted off the previous comment a bit too quickly. My question is, did you know that Gary Taubes wrote about how the dietary fat – heart disease hypothesis came to be conventional wisdom (the role that Keyes played, etc.) when you created your film?

Yes. I knew it in big picture form. I didn’t know it in the precise detail in which Gary presented it, but I did know the general progression. The clips of me in these videos were filmed long before I ever got a copy of Gary’s manuscript.

If only I had speakers at work! I’ll have to wait till tonight to watch them.

The government agencies and customer protection groups are a useless nanny at best. Still they could be of real use to the public if they would concern themselves with what’s not obvious to us.

The problem with fast food is not how many calories or grams of fat or carbs are in there, that’s easy to guess. The problem with fast food is the vast amount of ingredients they use to make simple things as a milkshake or a burger. I don’t know if they’re all bad but it would be nice to know what else is in my burger other than meat. It’s not fair to blame fast food only, almost anything processed is also laden with tens of ingredients. I took a look at a Creme Fraiche dressing in the supermarket and the only ingredient related to “creme fraiche” was dried milk solids. The thing was loaded with trans-fats, several kinds of sugar and the ever-suspicious “aroma”.

Unfortunately few “agencies” concern themselves with quality.

You’re concerns are valid. The best way to address these issues is to spend more time in your own kitchen, which is one of my best pieces of advice to all. If you make it, you know what’s in it.

i am new here and not totally on the same page as the regulars who are generally in agreement with some of your general views…so please don’t be too harsh on me…but here goes. i’m not sure why spurlock is portrayed as so deluded. even if one agrees that the “fat”content of food is not the main culprit, surely people accept that obesity is a growing health problem and that in part, thats due to excessive calories and not enough exercise?

even if the obesity is not caused by the fatty junk food, isn’t it a bad idea to let kids grow up on crap like burgers, fries and coke?

and the idea in the clips that it’s really unfair to blame fast food giants because people can decide for themselves what they eat is a bit naive. mcdonalds and other corps dont spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising if it doesn’t work? and particularly the insidious ads aimed at young children.

i would welcome your thoughts.

thanks
mark in aust

I think it is a bad idea to let kids grow up on cokes, fries and other crap, but I think it is a worse idea to try to regulate what restaurants can serve. If we decide it’s a good idea to regulate fast food places, then the powers that be would probably get rid of anything that wasn’t low in fat because the prevailing belief is that it’s the fat that bad for the kids. I would rather rely on education and personal responsibility rather than force restaurants to serve only certain fare. If we try to do that, then we are just like the Guy from CSPI, who tells the restaurant owners that they are evil and the patrons that they are stupid.

So, it seems obvious that Naughton came to the same conclusions as Taubes regarding metabolism without having access to Taubes work? Do you know if He’ll be including anything from Taubes in the movie or is it too late? I would love to know what N thinks of T’s book.

I predict straight to video. Look at the all “answer” movies to Michael Moore’s movies. Straight to video.

Preaching to the choir has its function, but as far as the revolution, this framing device isn’t going to get’r’done. And really, while Supersize Me may not be a perfect movie (or anything like a perfect movie) a snarky critique film with ugly animations is probably going to have about as much real impact as billboards on Mars.

I’m a low carber. I think a movement away from low fat insanity is probably a good thing. But good, mass sales involve benefits, not pointing out the flaws in other versions.

For those who suggest that Naughton’s anti-Super Size Me movie is something that can serve as cliff-notes for Gary Taubes’ book, or is something that will be helpful in helping Taubes reach his goal of spurring better nutritional science, I suggest you reconsider.

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that there is no real obesity epidemic in America?

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that the association between obesity and Type II diabetes is weak, or that the underlying relationship between the two is somehow unclear?

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that particular foods (fast foods, starches, sugars) are not addicting, or that the addiction is somehow weak and easy to break?

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that poor people tend to be more obese because they have an “I’m fat and I don’t care” attitude?

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that exercise is the key to losing weight?

Do you think Taubes agrees with Naughton that people are fat because they run a caloric surplus?

Do you think Taubes wants less government involvement in scientific inquiry and public health as Naughton suggests, or does Taubes’ book instead call for more government funding of better science leading to better public health recommendations? I read Taubes to say that the government needs to be doing more – much more in terms of funding the right sorts of experiments. Taubes is realistic enough to say that government funding is the only hope for getting real answers on the competing hypotheses on diet and health.

Gary Taubes’ book is carefully thought-out and loyal throughout to the principles of scientific inquiry. I don’t know what to think of Naughton’s movie, except that it will only cause more confusion about Taubes’ critically important message.

On another note, people are drawn to Taubes because his inclinations are so humane – point out to Taubes that fat people drink diet soda and he’ll say “Of course, they are always on diets. They don’t want to be heavy.” In everything Taubes says about modern American diets, there’s this real sympathy for obese people who feel like they’ve somehow lost control of their bodies and their health, and are incapable of finding decent medical or public health advice about how to turn things around.

Naughton just comes across as mean. For him, the obese “happen to value immediate pleasure more than long-term health” and then he quips “that’s your choice.” Does anyone who read Taubes book honestly believe that Taubes thinks that obese people choose to get fat?

I enjoyed the clips that featured your interview and that of Dr. Enig, as well as the brief clip that demonstrated how recent an introduction to our diet are large quantity of carbohydrates. I think the world is in desperate need of a Morcock type of movie that will expose “the big fat lie”.

However watching the rest of the clips, I’m not so sure this will all I had initially hoped for.

The Spurlock, The Guy from CSPI and Blaming Fast Food clips left me with a “so what” attitude. The clips were facetious. Especially the Blaming Fast Food. Every one knows that no one forces you to eat fast food. Standing outside a fast food joint to prove that point was silly and not especially funny. I don’t understand why there is a need to defend fast food in the first place. Are they so defenseless? I guess that’s why people wonder if there are ulterior motives involved, because it’s hard to believe someone not the industry would expend any type of effort into defending them.

The emphasis on low-fat (and high-carb) that has been pushed on us over the last 30 years is a crime against humanity, as far as I am concerned. Millions of people have suffered and died needlessly. We have lost billions of dollars and 40 years of research that could have bettered the human condition, and instead worsened it. That’s the real story. That’s the bigger picture. The fast food industry is nothing compared to that

I’m looking foward to this doc immensely, and as an actor/writer, I’ve got a few questions about the production.

Who did the animation? How many worked on the crew? Did you recruit only people you knew, or did you have to hire people to fill some of the positions?

All I can say is why didn’t I think of this! LOL I’ve been wanting to do something like this to spread the word about how people are killing themselves one bite at a time. The real problem is most people don’t care about this until they’re actually sick. Then they’ll spend thousands and thousands on treatment to try to undue years of unhealthy choices. Sometimes it’s hard for me to have any sympathy for people like that. So what if you can’t always eat the stuff you love to eat!!! Eating is not only about taste. We eat to fuel our bodies.

I LOVE the Big Fat Lies video. I sat down and wrote a food time line for human food consumption and it truly is amazing to look at what we have been eating for the past 5 decades. So much of what we now consider “healthy” food never existed 100 years ago. How did we make it this far with out low-fat dairy and Wheat Thins?? Our poor ancestors… 😉

The time is right for Taubes (excellent book by the way) and Naughton. People are finally coming out of their food coma.

My boyfriend was innocently sitting next to me when I finally watched these clips and his first reaction was: “so can we see the whole thing?”. I told him he had to wait.

So in short we really liked the clips so I’ll definitely be watching the whole thing when it comes out. One clip that didn’t click with me is the one where he’s sitting outside saying no one is making him go in, I found that a bit lame. Funny lame though.
Still I don’t like the title “Big Fat Head” that much, I think it’s not very catchy or maybe there’s a play on words that I don’t get? I loved the cartoons on the other hand and his manner of talking is easy on the ears 🙂

On another note, did you ever have Protein Power translated into other languages? I was looking for a German translation for my BF’s Mom but couldn’t find any. She’s a 49 year-old overweight type 2 diabetic, a smoker, loves sweets, loads on pasta and rice and avoids fat 🙁 I finally got her to listen and change certain things but I don’t think she’s going to make a drastic change without a solid guide. Any plans to break into the European market?

Thanks for a wonderful blog!

Hi Kay–

Protein Power has been translated into a bunch of languages, but, unfortunately, not into German. But I can recommend a good book written by a German physician friend of mine. The book is “Syndrom X: oder Ein Mammut auf den Teller,” written by Nicolai Worm. It’s very good.

Dr Eades
CSPI man was on the CBS national news last night and he was telling a tale of how bad salt was for us. Mr Jacobson was sporting a rather nice looking band aid right in the middle of his forehead. When i was looking at him it hit me that i finally figured out what his main problem is… all CSPI members must have a yearly frontal lobotomy. It must be be done on an annual basis because they are affraid that it might grow back and if it does some of them might begin using it. By the way i think he looks more like Gollum than Dr. Lipitor.

I’m so grateful for the “voices crying in the wilderness” of nutritional sanity, such as yours.

Charles W

It’s idiocy squared. It’s so like these people to hit the airwaves with horror studies about salt at about the same time that most scientists have concluded that salt intake doesn’t do squat to most people.

I think this really is the biggest story of the past century. By now, the “authorities” have either known or should have known their advice has been dangerous, there’s really no excuse for them to continue to promote low fat and reject the low carb. Meanwhile thousands, perhaps millions of lives are destroyed, loved ones lost, pointless suffering endured.
The enormity and quite serious consequences of this cock-up are part of what make it so hard to believe. It’s so hard to believe, in fact, not many folks outside of the lowcarb community actually do believe it. When I try to discuss this stuff with practically anyone I know, all I get is a lot of rolling eyeballs, and ridicule. It’s annoying but it’s also an understandable reaction-I’m pretty sure that’s how I would have reacted six years ago.
If this movie makes even a small dent in that attitude, it will be a huge success.

My question to Tom would be this: It was Spurlock’s doctor, not Spurlock himself who said he was eating 5000 cals a day right? And since we know that a cal ain’t a cal, and since we know that the amount of sugar in the meals Spurlock ate is staggering, why is it surprising to Tom that Spurlock gained so much weight?

Hi Dr. Eades,
I haven’t enjoyed anything so much as those clips in a while! Thanks for sharing.

I met you and MD at Feinman’s meeting a couple of years ago. I wrote a paper on the biochemistry of low-carb eating – geared to biochem professors such as myself – but unfortunately, I got intimidated (as I was submitting the paper) by all the doctors who were telling me that low-carb was bad. So I concluded the paper with some wimpy sentences about the major health organizations not recommending low-carb. I regret that now, but at the time I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness and therefore probably wrong about the benefits.

I returned to the low-fat, high-carb approach and now (coincidentally or not) I find myself a type 1.5 diabetic. Now I REALLY do low-carb.

Anyway, thanks for your contributions to convince me that what I was concluding from the literature actually WAS true.

Best wishes,
WKP

Hi WKP–

If you have a copy of that paper – even with the disclaimers at the end – I would love to see it.

This is slightly OT, but I’m so excited I just have to share! I was at my book club last night where there were about six newbies. The book we’re discussing is political, but somehow we got on the subject of the FDA and the ADA and how corrupt they have become. It turns out that the two guys who were seated to my right are both reading “Good Calories, Bad Calories”! We then proceeded to talk about “Fat Head” and the other documentary coming out by CJ Hunt, “In Search of the Perfect Human Diet”

here is the link to the site of Nicolai Worm, for your German readers. It contains all necessary to know about low-carb and such. The diet method is called LOGI-Methode and has quite good credentials since it was adopted in some hospitals to treat diabetis.

There was a full page ad in the NYT for Lipitor last weekend trumpeting a 36% lowering of risk for heart disease by taking Lipitor, in people with risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and family history. Then it said in the study of those smokers, etc., 3% of people taking a placebo had a heart attack, and 2% of people taking Lipitor had a heart attack. Why would anyone take a powerful drug like that for such a tiny benefit? And what about all those people taking Lipitor who don’t have any other risk factors other than elevated cholesterol? Statins have to be the most overhyped drugs ever.

People take these drugs because their doctors tell them to. And they don’t question their doctors. A sad situation.

I love documentary! It brings in information you’ve informed us about, stuff Gary Taubes made better known by at least his NYTimes Magazine article several years ago (haven’t read his new book yet), and gets some great REAL expert opinion by interviewing you and Mary Enig. It would be great if he could also get Taubes, Ravnskov, Cordain, and your old colleage who I’m blanking on the name.

I try to forward articles, blog entries and recommend books around these topics, but busy people who aren’t as “geaky” as me about nutrition, or are still a bit too close-minded, I think, don’t read much. A movie such as this which is actually fun to watch can capture a lot more people’s imagination and start to break down some of the initial barriers to let them think more openly about this stuff. Humor is always great in doing this, but it helps to have great presentation and very cogent presenters, interviewee’s, etc. Here’s hoping this will be the documentary equivelent of ” What if It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?”!

My questions to Tom would be:

1) When is the movie slated to come out?
2) Where can we look for it? Will it be in the DC area?
3) Will he have a website or mailing list that we can sign up to get news about the project?

Hi Levi–

Just got a chance to watch the full movie last night for the first time. According to Tom it’s about 95% as it is going to be. I can tell you that it’s brilliant (despite the fact that it mentions Anthony Colpo 🙂 ). Much, much better than the few little clips I posted indicate. I can’t wait until the full thing is out.

Dr. Mike: Although this is off-topic with regard to the above, we think you and all those who visit your blog regularly will be interested in a very recent lecture by Dr. Kendrick that has been excerpted on youtube. Here are the links that came from the thincs website:

Here they are, posted for all to enjoy. Thanks for sending. Just got my own invite from Uffe Ravnskov to become a member of THINCS, and will do so as soon as I can get all my stuff together to send him.

I think having a person go on an all quarterpounder with cheese diet from McDonalds (without bread and condiments-just cheeseburgers) and perhaps for breakfast coffee and sausage patties to show how weight loss can be achieved with the McDonalds menu would be very enlightening.

I ate their sausage patties for breakfast very regularly (many times 6 days a week) and often had quarter pounder with cheese patties as part of a low-carb diet where I lost 101.5 pounds over 23 months. Unfortunately I’m not sure their double cheeseburger is 100% beef but the quarter pounder seems to be.

What you’re describing is exactly what the full movie shows. I’m glad you’ve had good results.

The government has done something that is very very good, and that is require nutrition labels. We could not possibly figure out what was in any packaged food without those.

I also agree with Rico that Taubes would likely support government support of nutritional research – just better research. I am as mad as any of you at the low fat nonsense the government has been putting out. But I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water either.

I don’t think anyone is arguing that nutrition labels are not good. The law of averages mandates that every now and then the government will get something right. Problem is that it just doesn’t happen that often.

Towards the end it has a section on Spurlock’s Super Size Me and how his 30-day experience with McD altered his health. Okay, we all know about that, but the article makes some interesting points about Spurlock’s mental decline as well as physical, pointing the finger at McD food additives such as MSG.

“Equally important are the foods to limit or avoid: organ meats like liver, egg yolks, most fried and fast foods, doughnuts and pastries, full-fat cheeses and ice cream, processed meats like salami, bacon and other fatty cuts of pork, and untrimmed red meats.”

Thank you very much for your MSG comment! I read all the links you provided and they all make sense… especially the part about 75% of Americans being low in Magnesium. For most of my adult life I’ve heard that MSG was bad, and hadn’t found much that said it was good, or even okay, so to hear some common sense about it is refreshing.

thanks again

Hi Jenny–

I’m glad you enjoyed the post. MSG has become the whipping boy for a lot of people whom I don’t think ever went to the trouble to think the issue through critically.

I would love to see Fat Head make it to theaters, but I fear it will be “straight to video” – not because it’s a rebuttal to Super Size Me, but because it will be decried as a “tinfoil hat conspiracy theory movie” like documentaries from Alex Jones. I’ve been lambasted as a shill for Big Food because I believe in Mary Enig over Michael Jacobson. I pointed out on Daily Kos that CSPI advocated trans fats in the “Truth About Trans” article from the March 1988 edition of CSPI’s Nutrition Action newsletter, and I was accused of being a disinfo agent. According to the brainwashed Kossacks, CSPI never advocated trans fats – even when I throw the evidence in their faces. They may as well have accused me of inventing a fake Nutrition Action article.

But to sum it up: “Fat Head” will be dismissed by the mainstream media as tinfoil hat material, and the people in the movie supporting the film’s message will be dismissed as tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists – and yes, I have seen Mary Enig and Dr. Mercola dismissed as such. Controlled-left propagandists will declare the producer of the movie a far-right loon. Controlled-right propagandists will declare the producer of the movie a far-left loon. Of course the most likely scenario will be that the controlled media will basically ignore the documentary and refuse to discuss it because it’s “tinfoil hat material”. If there is any honest coverage and talk of the movie, it will most likely be relegated to alternative media such as the Alex Jones radio show and perhaps even Richard Green’s “Clout” radio show on Air America.

I am not sure why I feel compelled to write, but I’m honestly surprised to come upon this site and the statements posted here.

The clips you posted, while they offer some funny moments, completely miss the point. It’s possible that it’s just they are out of context, but let me ask you – who cares if Spurlock ate 5000 calories or 4000 calories of complete garbage food? Either way, this is way too much for the average sedentary American. Something you should appreciate as a physician.

And why do you feel compelled to create a false choice – either personal responsibility or government regulation? Both are clearly needed. This is not about who is evil and who is good, it’s about what is effective. If financial incentives can be used to shift industry and personal habits, then they should be explored. If educational initiatives were sufficient then the diet gurus of 40 years ago would have prevented the current obesity epidemic.

In short, I find the wisdom and perspective in this post and comments thus far decidedly immature and lacking.

sincerely,

Dr Berman

Hi Dr. Berman–

You wrote:

And why do you feel compelled to create a false choice – either personal responsibility or government regulation? Both are clearly needed.

Both are clearly needed? Government regulation of the diet? I think not.

If financial incentives can be used to shift industry and personal habits, then they should be explored.

Explored by whom? Do I want a bunch of lipophobe bureaucrats deciding what’s best for me to eat, then providing financial incentives to shift industry to conform to their idiotic bias. Again, I think not.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy the wisdom and perspective. You can always vote with your feet.

Unfortunately, your positions are scientifically untenable. We are all physical beings that behave in a manor consistent with the laws of physics. That means that ALL of our actions are not a matter of free will but are a consequence of our history and the current environment. That means all of our choices are a matter of our programming. Too bad that most people have been programmed poorly – primarily by advertisements. Yes, the food industry should be regulated based on science – not right wing religion.

Regardless, I won’t be running out to McDonald’s to make a steady diet of their food. While it may not be the high fat in their food that’s making people fat, it is also high in carbs, sugar, and hormone-laden meat. Not to mention all the chemicals in the foods. So I hope the movie doesn’t debunk that these fast food chains are still unhealthy.